


Vacation for Trouble

by BadRomantic



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Could be newt/jacob if you squint, Dougal the Demiguise is lowkey Newt's adoptive mother, Jacob is around Newt's age too, Newt looks up to his brother, Obliviation, Other, Sibling Love, Theseus is a GOOD BROTHER, kid Newt Scamander
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 18:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14062386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadRomantic/pseuds/BadRomantic
Summary: Newt Scamander, 15 years old, introduces a wonderful friend to a muggleboy by the name of Jacob Kowalski.-----Prompt: Climbing trees





	Vacation for Trouble

Newt Scamander, freshly 15 years old, truly did not know what to do with himself with so many possibilities in an entirely new world. 

Theseus, his brother, had brought him along on a trip to America. It took almost a week to convince their parents to let Newt come along, but Theseus was always able to do the impossible, and he was thrilled beyond belief to have a full two weeks away from home and with his brother. 

He was unafraid to admit how much he looked up to Theseus, especially with his unchallenged bravery and wit. While Newt was gifted in Potions and Herbology, he was sorely lacking in Defense Against The Dark Arts and Dueling. He wondered constantly what it would be like to be his brother, to have the affection of family in an endless store and have the ability to talk longer then five minutes about uninteresting topics, like The Ministry Of Magic’s new laws and such.

He supposed that it took a special type of person to be interested in politics.

Newt was focused on other things instead; like his case. Being expelled from Hogwarts last year left him with plenty of time on his own, and he used it to the best of his ability to create something that started out meager and ended up marvelous. 

He had asked his father for a briefcase, and when he was finally given one (with his initials beautifully carved into the side) he went straight to work. He practiced expansion charms, carefully using his mother’s wand to avoid detection from The Ministry of Magic, and built a large enough shack inside his case for him to hide in. 

He never was the type to enjoy crowds, and so he hid in his case often. After a few weeks of doing this, Newt considered his case essential to life. He took it with him where ever he went, building his own personalized home inside the case and decorating with plants he found in the forest. 

Once, during his time looking for decorative plants, he came across a Niffler. The small creature had it’s leg bloodied, and Newt suspected instantly that it was the attack of a Muggle that lead the poor beast into this mess. He coaxed it into his arms, careful to avoid moving the injured leg, and brought him inside his case. After a few minutes of coming up to grab supplies from his mother’s cupboards and stealing his father’s healing potions (along with Theseus’s wand), he spent a while fixing the small creature he had found.

The Niffler didn’t seem to find his help necessary at all, but Newt assured himself it was and that beasts were simply squirmish to unfamiliar hands. He pushed through the long scratches and deep bites just to finish bandaging the Niffler up. He let it-  _him-_  stay in his shack for a few nights before releasing him into the wilderness again after the slice on his leg fully healed.

He liked to think the family of Niffler’s in their backyard were the children of the Niffler he helped. And with the experience of helping that one creature did he learn just how much he truly did care for the protection of magical beasts. He used his case as a shelter, creating stronger expansion charms and using his father’s wand to create exhibits for each creature he thought he could come across.

It all proved to be extremely helpful. He had twelve different types of creatures in his case and nobody knew about it. Newt had a suspicion that Theseus knew what he was doing in his case, but he supposed that as long as Theseus never brought it up, he wouldn’t need to lie.

And now, with his brother and he in America’s infamous New York city, he got to have a whole new experience with the brother he loved, and the creatures he adored. 

“It’s so big!” Newt exclaimed, glancing around and stumbled over his feet just a tad as he and his brother fought to keep up with the crowd’s pace. 

“It is,” Theseus smiled in his direction, offering a hand that Newt took gratefully, “Which is why I want you to stay close to me. I don’t want to lose you while I’m working.”

“Where are we going first?” Newt asked, squeezing his brother’s hand apprehensively and brought his case closer to his legs, “Not to Muh-cool-yuh, right?” 

“Mah-coo-suh,” Theseus corrected, laughing heartily and pulling Newt closer, “No, not MACUSA. We’re going to visit some stores before we go back to the hotel.”

“Oh, okay.” Newt nodded. Good, he didn’t want to visit MACUSA at all. He knows very well how strict Americans are about their laws, and he would like to not have them be suspicious of his case and end up arrested. 

While Newt got easily bored with mundane activities like this, he decided to let Theseus talk endlessly about what he needed for potions and what stores they needed to visit first. When they reached the stores, Newt helped his brother and held all the bags they got, one hand still reserved for his case. 

There were a few times that people stopped them, obviously recognizing Theseus as the famous Auror-Junior from Britain, and some of them acknowledged Newt’s presence. A few girls, wizard or not, stopped them both and spoke fondly about how ‘sweet it was’ for Theseus to have his younger brother help him shop. 

He really wanted to hide in his case, just to get out of people messing up his hair or trying to get a conversation out of him. Theseus was always his hero in these situations, however, because he swooped in quickly whenever Newt was zeroed in on and fled.

“Sorry,” Theseus whispered, arm around Newt’s shoulder while he led them away for the sixth time, “I know this is scary for you.”

“I’m okay.” Newt insisted. His arm felt sore from holding so many bags.

“One more stop and we can go back to the hotel, I promise. It’s… age restricted, though.” Theseus sounded embarrassed. Newt didn’t understand why.

They stopped at a store just beside the Muggle park. Newt noticed quickly that muggle parks were a lot more nature-themed then wizarding ones. Back at home, there were charmed mazes and toys, but here, all there seemed to be was curved trees and seesaws. Newt held onto his brother’s jacket, messing with the fabric while he glanced around at the crowds of people around them.

“Will you be okay out here, Newt?” Theseus asked him, and Newt wanted to admit that he wouldn’t, but when he saw the concerned look on his face… he couldn’t.

“I’ll be just fine, Thee.”

Theseus smiled and nodded, turning to walk into the store.

Newt tried to peer into the windows, but he quickly realized that they were charmed to not show what was inside. He frowned, shifting on his feet and looked to the park. He liked how empty it looked. It was extremely tempting to go across the street and hang out in there while he waited for Theseus. But he knew he shouldn’t. Which is absolutely why Newt  _didn’t_ stroll across the road and do exactly what he shouldn’t. 

Until he did. But it wasn’t as though Theseus couldn’t see him, and he avoided the seesaw just to be extra safe. 

 _My arm really hurts,_ Newt thought, setting all the bags down and glanced around curiously. Nobody seemed to be around. 

He looked up at the tree,  _Perhaps…_

“It won’t hurt if I…” Newt glanced around again and made a quick haste to work. He threw his case ontop of the tree, putting the bags over his shoulder and made an effort to climb up the tree. His knees scraped against the bark, lightly tearing his pants, but he didn’t care. He hauled himself to sit in the middle of the tree’s split, bringing his case into his lap and opening it hurriedly. 

“Dougal? Dougal- are you in there?“

His friend, a large demiguise that could honestly cradle Newt in his arms, climbed up his ladder and eyed him curiously. 

“I got something I wanna put in my room… can you bring it down for me? Please?” Newt tilted his head and smiled brightly when Dougal climbed up to press his nose against his cheek. He wondered if that’s how all Demiguise showed their affection, or if Dougal was just a special case.

He liked to think Dougal was a special case.

Newt offered the bags, grinning when Dougal took the time to pluck and set them down gently onto his cot. Dougal came right back though, reaching a hand out to go through Newt’s hair. He recognized quickly that Dougal was fixing it, trying to neat the mess of curls.

_**“Woah.”** _

Newt’s eyes snapped to the unfamiliar voice, jaw dropping in horror when he saw what was clearly a muggle boy, watching with fascination as Newton’s beloved creature continued to fix his hair.

“Is that a monkey?” The boy asked, round brown eyes blinking owlishly at him.

“What?” Newt squawked, “I- uh- no. No it’s a Demiguise.” He shifted nervously, watching the boy as he stepped closer to the tree and went on his toes to get a closer look at the case and Dougal. 

Newt studied the boy cautiously, noting how soft his face looked. He was round, a stark difference to Newt’s thin and boney stature, and he walked with a funny bounce in his steps. He rocked as he stood on his toes, making noises of distress as he tried to lean in closer.

“His name is Dougal.” Newt introduced, turning the case a little to show the boy better.

“Wow.” The boy’s mouth rounded into an o, “Hello, Dougal! I’m Jacob.”

Dougal peered at Jacob. Newt whispered his own encouragement to the Demiguise, and watched excitedly as Dougal began to reach a hand out to Jacob. 

Newt was holding his breath, a slow grin spreading on his face at the wonderful idea of his creature and this boy being able to become friends too. What if, one day, he got to help Muggles understand the way of magical creatures. To help protect them instead of poaching, hurting, and killing them. 

Jacob seemed like the perfect person too. He looked excited to meet Dougal, and open to the possibilities of magic in the world. It was over in a second, though, when the hiss of his brother’s voice reached their ears.

_“Newton Artemis Fido Scamander. What in Merlin’s name do you think you’re doing?”_

Newt looked up in alarm, quickly shutting his case once he realized that Dougal was startled enough to hide back in it. He looked apprehensively at Jacob, but the boy didn’t seem to mind at all. Instead, he gave Newt a funny look and asked, “Fido? Newton?”

“It’s my name…” Newt explained weakly, shrinking away as his brother approached them.

“What was that?” Theseus asked, fully enraged as he motioned to Newt’s case, “You’ve been keeping beasts in there?”

“It was just Dougal.” He whispered quietly, sure that his words never actually reached his brother’s ears. Jacob perked though, sensing his discomfort, and looked at Theseus boldly.

“That was a Demiguise, Sir!”

Theseus turned to face Jacob, eyes narrowing, “What’s your name, boy?”

“Jacob Dennis Kowalski.” Jacob glanced at Newt, and Newt offered a small smile of encouragement.

“Are you a muggleborn?” Theseus lifted a brow, frowning to himself. “Kowalski isn’t a wizard name.”

“Wizard?” Jacob’s brave demeanor dropped into shocked awe, “Are you guys wizards?”

Theseus’s hot glare found Newt instantly. He tried to hide behind his case, shrinking into the tree. He knew Theseus was angry with him. But he didn’t necessarily know why. In Britain, he could have sworn that the laws weren’t that strict. He could make friends with the muggle children at  _home_ , even though it was unlikely.

“I’m _so_  going to feed you to a dementor!” Theseus hissed at Newt, and Newt peeked up just in time for his brother to perform an obliviation on Jacob.

In Jacob’s daze, Theseus lifted Newt down and grabbed his wrists tightly, pulling him along. Newt caught the hint of a few books in the shopping bag he had, and felt horribly guilty when he realized they were books about creatures. His brother went in there for him, and he just made him angry.

“I’m sorry.” Newt whispered after they walked in silence for a bit, daring a glance at his brother’s face, “Please don’t feed me to the dementors.”

“…They wouldn’t want to eat a naughty kid like you, anyway.” Theseus said, glancing down pointedly at Newt, but there was the small hint of a smile on his face, and Newt breathed out in relief. His brother wasn’t too angry.

“Are… are you going to tell mom about the case?” He asked nervously, looking down at his feet. 

“…No.” Theseus said quietly, “I figured you had something in there. And the fact that all of our wands kept going missing kinda told us you were doing something with it, so… we all know you do something when we’re not looking. I’m just glad it isn’t dealing with dangerous things.”

Newt decided not to tell him about the Nundu cub he had.

“Why did you obliviate Jacob?” He asked, “Jacob could have been my friend. He would keep a secret, I know it.”

“Things… are different here, Newwy.” Theseus’s voice was thick with emotion, “It’s against the rules to even interact with muggles here.”

“That’s so sad.” Newt frowned and looked up at his brother, “Why would they do that?”

Theseus offered a pained smile his way, clearly hiding something that Newt didn’t understand. “Some things are just best left… unanswered.”

 _Well,_ Newt thought,  _I still hope I get to see Jacob again. Maybe I can bring him to Britain and show him all of my creatures._

It would come as a great surprise to Newton later in life that he’d get the wish to see Jacob again, and end up showing him all of his creatures in the process of tracking a Dark Lord… and perhaps a few stray beasts in the process.


End file.
